Racing-Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda is “surprised” to have made it through the demanding Singapore Grand Prix of Formula 1 2024 without using any expletives.
From eighth on the grid to twelfth at the finish: For Yuki Tsunoda, the Singapore Grand Prix 2024 ended in great disappointment. He himself describes the race as “very frustrating” because, in principle, everything went wrong from the start.
“The start was the main thing,” says Tsunoda. “I lost three positions there. That’s on me. And after that, we basically just had to wait for a safety car period and stay out as long as possible.”
That’s exactly what Racing Bulls tried to do with Tsunoda: it wasn’t until just after the halfway point in the race, on lap 33, that the Japanese driver came into the pits for the only tire change, switching from medium to soft for an equally long second stint that was ‘very difficult’.
And the strategy didn’t work out: “Unfortunately, it was a pretty clean race. So it didn’t pay off for us, even though I can understand why we did it,” says Tsunoda.
Tsunoda didn’t swear at all
And as calmly as he describes all this, Tsunoda had remained just as calm during the race. When asked about this, the Formula 1 driver replies with a grin on his face: “I probably didn’t have enough energy left to swear!”
“It was pretty hard in the car at these high temperatures. But maybe I’ve just become a nicer person in general.”
The fact that he didn’t curse at all surprised even him, says Tsunoda. ”But right now we’re also focusing on not cursing in the car. That’s a sensitive topic right now, and not just because of the FIA. I have to get better at it anyway. That’s why I’m happy not to have cursed.”
Because expletives had gotten out of hand in the cockpit with Tsunoda, Racing Bulls assigned a psychologist to his Formula 1 driver months ago. The goal of the measure was to help Tsunoda focus on the essentials: driving fast in a race car without being distracted by robust curses.